The Six-Question Process

The Six-Question process for coaching is an approach that I have seen work consistently well with executives. This process has produced measurable change in effectiveness (as evaluated by direct reports) with four CEOs that I have personally coached.

Helping Executives Become Better Coaches

Executives and Coaching:
Fears and Realities

In my work with senior leaders, I have found that one of the most common complaints of direct reports is that their executives do a poor job of providing coaching. This perception has been validated in reviewing the 360° a feedback scores for executives in 30 major corporations. The item "provides effective coaching when needed" consistently scores in the "bottom 10" of all items when direct reports evaluate their executives.

There are several reasons why executives tend to do a poor job of coaching. One reason is that executives manage knowledge workers. Peter Drucker's definition of a knowledge worker is "someone who knows more about what they are doing than their boss does". One CEO that I coached was surprised that his direct reports wanted any coaching from him. He asked, "How can I be expected to coach them, when they already know ten times more about what they are doing than I do?"

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